The L.A. Times music blog

Mary J. Blige peddles chicken for Burger King

April 2, 2012 | 3:40
pm

With Burger King undergoing a massive makeover that includes new décor, delivery options (?!) and health-conscious menu offerings such as garden salads, snack wraps and real fruit smoothies, the burger house needed a little bit of star power to get folks to take notice.

For one of BK's new ads, the chain tapped R&B diva Mary J. Blige to peddle its new chicken snack wraps — through song, naturally. To the tune of Blige’s “Don’t Mind,” from her latest disc, "My Life II ... The Journey Continues (Act 1)," she belts lyrics promoting the wrap’s “crispy chicken, fresh lettuce, three cheeses, ranch dressing, wrapped up in a tasty flour tortilla.”

The jingle isn’t nearly as catchy as McDonald’s iconic Big Mac jingle and just might be so cringe-worthy that it could land Blige on lists of the most embarrassing celebrity commercials of all time. But she will be in good company: the chain also recruited David Beckham, Jay Leno and Steven Tyler, and actresses Salma Hayek and Sofia Vergara for Spanish-market ads.

Maybe knowing that music bloggers would use a slow news day like this to riff on the ad, Burger King disabled embedding. But you can check out the ad here.

For those who keep score in the fast food wars, the Florida-based Burger King was bumped out of second place last month by Wendy's, according to our Money & Co. blog. That’s even after the company dethroned its creepy monarch mascot. The makeover happening now is Burger King’s most ambitious marketing initiative in its 58 years.